


Yet Another Reason to Dislike Cockroaches

by Lumeleo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 21:59:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16606208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumeleo/pseuds/Lumeleo
Summary: Like any proper Avenger, Scott has very little in the way of self preservation instinct. Sam is going to scold him. And kiss him. Not necessarily in that order.





	Yet Another Reason to Dislike Cockroaches

Sam was never going to get used to the sight of Scott falling like a giant in a fairytale.

Granted, it wasn’t happening nearly as often now that Tony had taken it upon himself to tinker with Pym’s designs, only for Shuri to take one look at the result and produce another upgrade within the week. Scott could now adjust his size much more precisely and at less strain to himself, which was a huge relief. Apparently even these genius additions hadn’t managed to iron out all the kinks, though, judging by the way Scott had just hit the ground with a resounding thud.

“Falcon,” Cap said, only for Sam to cut him off.

“On it.” As though he needed to be told. Scott was helpless right now, and Sam was the one with the greatest maneuverability, with Vision currently fighting off by a number of enemies. Sam swooped in to where several of the giant robotic cockroaches were starting to gather around Scott’s body, because apparently insects hated each other. That or the criminal mastermind behind these things was an ass, that was a possibility too.

Scott wasn’t moving, which was pretty damn frightening, but thankfully he’d shown Sam what to do in such a situation. For all that the regulator could be fiddly at times, it was laughably easy to handle in this large size. It took Sam mere moments to have Scott shrinking to regular size, at which point he gathered up his unconscious comrade and flew out of the battle.

Settling Scott down on a rooftop near the fight, Sam quickly ran a check of his vitals. His heart and breathing were still going, thank god, but that was about all he got. Scott wasn’t waking up no matter how much Sam shook him or called his name.

Sam closed his eyes briefly, trying to force away the memories flooding his mind. This was not the same as Riley. He would not allow it to be the same as Riley.

Nobody called him back into battle, which was a good thing, since he probably wouldn’t have reacted as fast as he could. He was too busy opening Scott’s helmet and trying to assess his injuries. Scott’s face was pale under his mask, his forehead covered in sweat. A quick examination showed no obvious injuries, but clearly something was wrong, and Sam was going to find out what.

“Hey, Birdbrain.” Never before had the sound of Iron Man landing on the roof next to him filled Sam with such relief. “How’s the bug looking?”

“I’m not sure.” Sam hated admitting that, but then, he had no other answer. “I can’t wake him up even with him back at regular size, and he seems to be in pain. However, I can’t find any significant injuries.”

“I’m afraid it’s because they don’t look very significant.” Tony stomped closer with a metallic clang. “I took a look at one of those botroaches, and seems their pincers aren’t just for show.”

“Botroaches? Are you serious?” The words slipped out before Sam could stop himself. Then he shook his head, trying to regain some sort of calm. “Right, not the point. Sorry. And yeah, I noticed them trying to bite him, and I suppose he would’ve been an easier target than the rest of us, but that just means they wouldn’t have done much damage on him. I can’t even find the bite marks now that he’s back to normal size.”

“Yeah, well, that might work if it’d just been bites. However, seems that our mad genius decided dog-sized cockroaches weren’t awful enough as a concept.” Tony’s faceplate flipped up, showing a grimace. “From a quick analysis, it seems they were also injecting some pretty nasty stuff into him.”

“What?” Sam felt rather faint. “You’re saying they… poisoned him?”

“Yes and no. No, as in he wasn’t exactly poisoned. Yes, as in they were using a very, very painful toxin.” Tony crouched down next to Scott, a frown still on his face. “It’s kind of amazing he kept fighting as long as he did. Even at his enhanced size, with the way those things were climbing all over him, there must have been enough bites for the pain to be excruciating.”

“Shit.” That was not good. Not good at all, even if Scott was still breathing. “We’ve got to get him help.”

“I’ve already sent the specs of the toxin over to the lab, and Bruce is busy concocting an antidote as we speak. Until then, all we can do is get him back to the Tower, and maybe feel grateful his stomping drew most of the botroaches to him. One bite to a human-sized target, and pretty much any of us would have dropped.”

Sam was about to respond, then paused to think. He thought of the way Scott had indeed been stomping around, drawing the attention of the cockroaches, leaving the rest of them to deal with other, less ground-based enemies. He thought of the brief hiss and curse he’d heard over the comms near the beginning of the battle, the voice unmistakeable.

Scott had been drawing the cockroaches to himself on purpose.

The realization must have shown on his face, as Tony gave a grim nod. “Yeah, your hero boyfriend was being stupidly heroic. Not that I have any right to speak, of course, but that just means I have first-hand knowledge of how stupid that is.” Tony typed something into his arm, because apparently a voice-commanded AI interface wasn’t enough fancy tech, then slapped a plate down over the keys. “Think you can hand him over for a bit?”

“Right. Yeah.” He stepped back, letting Tony pick up Scott’s unconscious body. As much as Sam wanted to be close to make sure Scott was fine, it was obvious Tony would get Scott somewhere safe much faster. “Do they need help with cleanup?”

“Nah, you’re good to go. You’ll find your bugfriend in the Tower infirmary once you’ve had a shower.” Tony gave him an exaggerated frown. “And no complaints. I know they weren’t real bugs, but the goo inside them is pretty disgusting anyway.”

“I wasn’t going to complain.” He would have hopped through any number of hoops to get to Scott. And as soon as Scott was nice and awake, Sam was going to give him the scolding of a lifetime.

Well, that, and plenty of kisses. The exact order was yet to be determined.


End file.
